Bob Dylan Remembers Garth Hudson: ‘He Was a Beautiful Guy’
The keyboardist, who Dylan called the “driving force” behind the Band, died on Jan. 21 at age 87
Bob Dylan is mourning his friend Garth Hudson. On Monday, the musician posted a tribute to the Band keyboardist on X, remembering him as the group’s “driving force.”
“Sorry to hear the news about Garth Hudson. He was a beautiful guy and the real driving force behind the Band,” Dylan wrote. “Just listen to the original recording of The Weight and you’ll see.”
The post comes nearly a week after Hudson, the multi-instrumentalist of the Band, died at age 87 at the Ten Broeck Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing in upstate New York. Jan Haust, Hudson’s longtime friend and colleague, confirmed his death to Rolling Stone on Jan. 21. He declined to reveal a cause of death, but said Hudson “died peacefully” and “yesterday was a day of music and hand-holding.”
One archival interview remembered Dylan being “blown away” by his first time seeing Hudson perform, and the two worked together several times through the late Seventies. “The wonderful thing in working with Dylan was the imagery in his lyrics,” Hudson once said. “I was allowed to play with these words.”
“To hear Garth Hudson at his deranged best, listen to the legendary 1966 tour with the Band (still known as the Hawks) backing up Bob Dylan,” wrote Rob Sheffield in a Rolling Stone tribute to Hudson.
The tribute post comes a few hours after Dylan announced the 2025 leg of his Never Ending Tour, which includes stops in Tulsa, Kansas, Green Bay, and in Mankato, Minnesota. Between 2021 and early 2024, Dylan’s shows focused heavily on songs from Rough and Rowdy Ways, and rarely changed from night to night. The upcoming shows will be his first live performances since A Complete Unknown hit theaters. The announcement also comes a day after Timothée Chalamet, who plays him in the biopic, performed a few of his deep cuts on Saturday Night Live.
